Environmental concerns have seen the Labour party move a third runway “off the agenda” shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle has confirmed. In power the party had supported the expansion of the airport – which is already the busiest international hub in the world – but announced a policy u-turn earlier.

British Airways has once again called on the British government to urgently address the lack of new hub airport capacity in the south-east of England. Responding to the government’s “Developing a sustainable framework for UK aviation” consultation, the airline warned that in order to support the UK economy there must be additional aviation capacity to meet growing demand for global connectivity.

A survey of 86 member airlines by The Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR UK) concludes that airlines share escalating concerns about their ability to operate effectively from Heathrow as result of capacity constraints and high taxation.

Heathrow handled 6.6 million passengers in August 2011, up 0.7% on the previous year and the airport’s busiest ever August. In addition, the airport reported 82.2% of seats were filled on Heathrow flights.

British Airways customers flying through Terminal 5 at Heathrow are now benefiting from even more space and improved facilities following the opening of a new £340m third part of the terminal. The new satellite terminal, known as “T5 C”, provides additional capacity and will help to make sure that customers have an even smoother start or end to their journeys.

Heathrow Airport is looking at using geothermal heating to combat its runways from freezing in winter. The British Airports Authority said the underground heating technology could prevent a repeat of last December, when the airport had to be closed for five days and 4,000 flights cancelled due to ice on the runways.